Mal wheeled her way down the hall, looking for Ben. Lady Steph had told her the news about Beast and, while she wasn't that cut up about Beast being sentenced to the Isle after everything the Isle had gone through, Mal knew the news would devastate Ben.
And he'd proven himself a good ally, even in the beginning when Mal probably wasn't the best ally to him. So she was going to make sure that she cheered Ben up however she could. She wasn't one hundred percent positive how she could do that but she was going to.
"Benji, tu dois sortir de ta chambre*," she heard Chip tell Ben as she rolled her way to Ben's room. Sure enough the door was open and Mal could see the older boy talking to a lump on Ben's bed that Mal had to assume was Ben.
"Pas si papa va partir, Chip*," Ben said, though his voice was obviously muffled by the thick blankets he was under.
"What are you guys saying?" Mal asked, preventing any response from Chip. Not that Mal was ashamed of butting into their conversation—if they wanted privacy then they should have shut the door.
Chip looked over at Mal and gave the younger girl a small smile, as he always seemed to do whenever he saw her. "I'm just trying to get Benji here to leave his room," he said, his voice soft. "The only time he'll leave now is if Adam's doing something with him but Adam's in a meeting with Belle to...to go over the transition when he goes to the Isle."
"Oh..." Mal said and tilted her head. "But...that didn't sound like you were telling Benny to leave his room?"
"It is in French," Chip said, chuckling slightly at the confused look on Mal's face. "Adam's kingdom was originally in France before everyone merged into Auradon so Ben and I know a fair bit of the language."
"Oh..." Mal said once more. Knowing another language like that...it could come in handy on the Isle. There weren't a lot of French speakers. Sure Freddy knew French but Mal avoided him like he was made of iron. The LeGumes probably knew French as well but again, they weren't exactly allies with Mal.
Plus with Beast going to the Isle and Ben spending half of the year there himself, something told Mal they would be avoiding the LeGumes no matter what.
"...Can you teach me?"
Ben poked his head out from under his blankets and Mal bit her lip to avoid laughing at how his honey brown hair seemed to stick out every-which way. It wouldn't do to laugh at an ally. "You...you want to learn French?"
Mal shrugged. "I mean, it'd be useful on the Isle wouldn't it? Not a lot of people there know French."
And the people who do are going to be people you'll be avoiding anyway, she thought. Mal couldn't imagine Ben spending much time around the LeGumes for instance.
"I could teach you!" Ben said, his eyes lighting up in excitement as he scrambled out from under his covers. "Come on!"
"Number one way to get Benji excited, get him the opportunity to learn something new or teach someone else something new," Chip chuckled as Mal slowly rolled her way into Ben's room. She even accepted Chip's help in getting up onto Ben's bed so the two kids could sit together.
"What about giving Benny a new book?" Mal asked as she looked over at Chip.
"That falls under the 'learn something new' category," Chip told her, sneakily putting a pillow under her cast to make sure her ankle stayed elevated.
"Here," Ben said softly as he handed her the Cerberus plushie she'd given him for his birthday. It was a dark blue Cerberus with yellow collars on the left and right heads, though Mal had insisted the center head have a purple collar. As she had explained to Lady Steph, how would Ben remember who it was from otherwise? "You can hold him if you want."
Mal shook her head. "You already let me borrow Flamey while Lady Steph and I stay here...and you never told me what you named this one."
"...Beau," Ben said softly. "It...it sounds a little like beaucoup which is French for a lot. And you could say that a Cerberus has a lot of heads."
"I see you're keeping your creative streak alive," Mal said with a small chuckle, never noticing Chip ducking out of the room.
"If a name suits them, why put too much energy in worrying about being creative about it?" Ben asked.
"That's an excellent question," Mal said with another small chuckle before shaking her head. "But let's get this French lesson underway shall we?"
Ben nodded and ran a hand through his hair, as if subconsciously realizing how much being under the covers had messed it up. "Okay, so I guess the best place to start would be at the beginning. When you see your friends, what do you say?"
"Why are you walking around by yourself?"
"...Well I was thinking more along the lines of 'hello' or 'hey'."
Mal shook her head. "Okay then. We'll swap. I'll teach you a thing about the Isle for every French word you teach me. You're going to need the lessons if you're going to be spending six months on the Isle."
"But...aren't you going to be there too?" Ben asked.
"Well yeah," Mal nodded. "But that's just it. You act too much like a Boreadon kid, you stand out."
"Aurad—."
"Ah ba ba! This'll be lesson number one," Mal told him, shooting Ben a small glare for the correction. "On the Isle, Auradon is called Boreadon. No exceptions. You want to be seen like an easy target? Make yourself out to be a Boreadon sympathizer."
"But...the Isle is part of Auradon," Ben said. "At least according to Chip."
"Yeah well it might be part of Auradon but no one on the Isle thinks like that," Mal told him before shaking her head. "Okay, that was your first Isle lesson. Now come on. Hit me with some French."
Ben grinned, the uncertainty from earlier forgotten. "Like I said, we're starting from the beginning. When I see my friends, I'd say hi so we're going to start with Bonjour."
"...No one's going to start singing at me as they're imprisoned in stocks are they?"
Ben chuckled. "Nope! Now come on, you try!"
"Bon...Bonjoor?" Mal said slowly, hating the way how the pronunciation sounded butchered in her tongue when it sounded better in Ben's.
She did not like being bad at things, thank you!
"Close," Ben told her, giving her a smile. "Try it again!"
"You're one determined guy, Benny," Mal said, shaking her head.
"You're the one who wanted to learn French, Mal," Ben reminded her. "Chip always says that learning a language for the first time is tough. That's why Maman and papa always try to speak French around me if they can, so that way I'm at least familiar with the language. Sometimes Chad and I'll have our own private conversations though they're not so private now that his little sisters are picking up on some of the words."
"Chad?"
"You remember Chad! He was at my birthday party!"
"Benny, I said like three words to him. I spent more time with Elle, you, Emir, and Akiho. Speaking of who, I'm surprised they're not here right now. Emir and Akiho I mean."
Ben shrugged softly. "I...I don't think Maman and papa are talking to their mamas and papas," he said, his voice no higher than a whisper. "Maman said some on papa's council were the ones to...to vote to put papa on the Isle..."
"...Hey how about another French word?" Mal asked, sensing danger. She'd hunt down the two idiots Ben was friends with herself if she had to but this was her time to cheer Ben up.
"Don't you want to get the first word down?" Ben asked. "Come on, you can do it. Bonjour."
Mal sighed and tried again. "Bon...Bonjur?"
"Better!" Ben said and his smile was so infectious that Mal couldn't help but smile back at him. She'd have to work on that for when they went back to the Isle of course—no one really smiled unless they were successful in a scheme.
Or Harry had just finished beating her or Uma in a sparring match. Something that would probably happen less and less, even with Mal potentially being in Auradon for half the year.
Yeah that's been kinda weird to think about, Mal thought. With Lady Steph working on adopting me and me being Lord Hades' daughter...I guess I should probably think of him as dad now that I think about it. I mean...I know Ben calls Beastie 'papa' and so does Harry for that matter but...dad just feels a bit better for me.
"You okay?" Ben asked, tilting his head as his voice pulled Mal out of her thoughts. "is...is your ankle bothering you?"
"Huh? Oh no, I'm fine," Mal reassured him. "I just got lost in thought is all."
"Oh, okay," Ben said with a small smile. "Cause if your ankle was hurting you, I could go and get you some pain medicine."
Mal shook her head. "That's going to be your next Isle session, Benny. Unless you're in Lady Steph's favor, you suck up any pain you're in."
"But...you're clearly in Lady Steph's favor," Ben said. "She's your guardian after all."
Mal shrugged. "Even so, if you're in public, you can't let anyone know you're in pain. You'll be seen as a target otherwise."
"...Should I be writing this down?"
"Okay, how did French practice turn so depressing?" Chip asked as he walked back into the room, holding a bowl of familiar looking fruit. "I thought you two could use a snack."
"Strawberries!" Mal said, her eyes lighting up.
"Ah, ah, ah," Chip said with a small chuckle. "En français, s'il vous plaît mademoiselle*."
"Huh?"
Ben giggled softly. "Chip, stop being silly! We haven't gotten to fruit yet so she wouldn't know how to say it in French!"
"Well then you can say it Benji," Chip said, grinning at the sound of his little brother's giggles.
"Fraises!"
"Très bien!" Chip said as he put the bowl of red berries on the bed between Ben and Mal. "Hope you two enjoy!"
"Aren't you going to stay?" Ben asked.
Chip smiled as he heard the question. "Only if you want me to Benji but I thought maybe you might want some privacy for this French lesson."
"Why would I ever want you to leave? You're my brother, Chip. I'll always want you around," Ben said.
"Alright Benji," Chip said as he sat down on a nearby chair. "Where're we at in the French lessons?"
"We're still on 'hello'," Mal muttered.
"Ah starting at the beginning I see," Chip nodded. "A great place to start. Though isn't that a little stuffy? Why not 'salut' or 'hi'?"
"...There's more than one way to say hi?!"
Chip chuckled as he snagged a strawberry from the bowl. "Yep, sure is. And now I see why Benji started you off with 'Bonjour'. You'll get to 'salut' at some point."
"If I ever get the pronunciation down," Mal muttered.
Chip paused and then quickly took the bowl of strawberries from where he'd place them on the bed. "Quick, how do you say 'hello' in French?"
"Chip!"
"Not quite Mal but close," Chip chuckled. He had an idea as to what might be causing Mal to have issues with the pronunciation but he wanted to see if he was right. "Come on now. I'll start singing if you don't say it."
Mal paused. "You wouldn't dare!"
"Oh wouldn't I?" Chip smirked and then cleared his throat before beginning to sing. "Little town, it's a quiet village. Every day, like the one before. Little town, full of little people waking up to say..."
"Bonjour!" Mal shouted.
"That's it," Chip nodded and set the strawberries back on the bed. "Excellent pronunciation by the way."
"Wait...I got it right?" Mal asked as she quickly took a strawberry from the bowl in case Chip took it again.
Chip nodded once more. "Yep. Seems you and Benji have the same issue, if you think about it too much, you'll never get the pronunciation but when you shouted the word at me you got it perfectly. Probably because you were more annoyed at me than you were thinking about the word."
"So all Mal needs to get the pronunciation correct is someone to be annoyed at?" Ben asked.
"Well that'll be easy," Mal said. "Most of the Isle annoys me."
Chip chuckled. "Alright then, now that we've conquered 'hello', what's next on the lesson plan Benji?"
"Je m'appelle Benjamin," Ben said with a grin.
"...English would be preferable," Mal said, rolling her eyes slightly.
Ben flushed slightly. "I was just saying how to introduce yourself in French," he said. "So if I was meeting Chip for the first time and he asked what my name was, I'd say 'Je m'appelle Benjamin' or 'Je m'appelle Ben'."
"What's the difference?" Mal asked.
"If we're at a royal ball or not," Chip told her. "Just like with French, the royal life has etiquette Benji has to know even at age five."
"...Well that's one good thing about the Isle then," Mal said. "I mean yeah we have to deal with rank and whatnot but etiquette? Not so much."
"What's another Isle rule?" Ben asked.
"Hands in your pockets at all times unless you're swiping something," Mal told him.
Ben tilted his head. "But...why not just pay for the thing?"
"You'll have to ask Jay that question, he's one of the best thieves on the Isle and he's only a year older than me," Mal told him.
"Is he...is he an ally of yours?" Ben asked, hoping he got the language right.
Mal shook her head. "I'll see him around Maleficent's castle sometimes but we don't interact much. My main allies are Uma and Harry, daughter of Ursula and son of Captain Hook."
"Uma...she's Lord Posideon's granddaughter, right Chip?" Ben asked, looking at the older boy.
"That's right," Chip nodded.
"Okay, so I'd call her 'Lady Uma' then," Ben said.
Mal snorted. "Do that and you'll get stabbed. Uma only goes by Uma. The only 'Princess' on the Isle is Evil Queen's daughter. A walking pain in my butt since Maleficent decided to be friendly rivals with EQ."
"Friendly...friendly rivals?" Ben asked.
Mal shrugged. "I dunno, I just know that like every two years or so EQ tries to take power from Maleficent. At least according to Maleficent's rants on the subject. Dunno why she tries, she always fails."
Ben frowned slightly. "But...why be mean to her daughter then?"
"Because being nice isn't done on the Isle," Mal said simply. "Now, where were we with the French?"
"Oh right," Ben nodded and the French lesson continued. Even if in the back of his mind, Ben was thinking of ways he could befriend the Evil Queen's daughter. Because everyone could use a friend and he wasn't exactly crazy about the idea of excluding her.
He could be friends with both Mal and the Evil Queen's daughter. Right?
*You need to come out of your room
*Not if papa's going to be leaving, Chip
*In French, please miss